


Knock yourself out

by rudbeckia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brendol Hux's A+ Parenting, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, benarmie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:33:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22831051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Armitage Hux accidentally gatecrashes a family party at the Organa house. Twenty-four hours later, he has a whole new family.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 18
Kudos: 149





	Knock yourself out

**Author's Note:**

> This started life as a Christmas twitfic.

Armitage Hux looks up at the house from the street and shakes his head. It’s definitely the right address but, although large, the house is, well, tasteless. There’s a leyland cypress hedge, taller than planning regulation really allows, festooned with multicoloured, egg-shaped, flashing lights that threaten to give him a headache. There’s an inflatable bunny, complete with floppy ears and oversized incisors, lit internally as if the poor creature carelessly sat on a light bulb and was frighteningly ecstatic about it, waving its carrot on the overgrown lawn. And it seems that if you can’t get half a dozen individual Easter chick decorations, then one, giant six-headed inflatable chick-demon will do.

He checks his satnav app one last time. This is definitely the right address.

It’s just that the house is very different from the understated display based on a certain brand of religion he expected of Mr Pryde, father’s business partner, a man to be impressed with knowledge and good manners, and an all round bastard.

Bit like dad, Hux thinks. Oh well. Here goes. Plaster on the polite smile and try not to let them get to you.

As he reaches the door, an animatronic rabbit that he’d taken for a doorstop starts dancing and singing “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” in a squeaky voice. Three seconds later, the door is wrenched open and the song is sung for real.

Hux takes two steps backwards and falls because he forgot there was a step.

Next thing he knows time has passed in darkness, his head hurts like fuck and there’s a weird smell. He groans at the effort of opening his eyes and sitting up. Hands push him back down and, to be honest, he doesn’t put up much of a fight.

“Hey, take it easy,” a voice says. It’s a kind, soft, safe voice, Hux thinks, and he’d like to hear it again.  
“Uh?” he says, and struggles to sit up. Firm hands on his shoulders steady his spinning world and push him back down again onto the soft surface he’s lying on.  
“Easy! You took a tumble, kid. You’re okay, but take it easy.”  
“Mmf?”  
“My wife’s pal will take a look at that cut on your head. She’s a doc. ‘Til then, stay put. I’ll have my boy look after you.”

Hux blinks his eyes open. There are yellow, fluffy, chick-shaped string lights draped along the tops of the picture frames on the walls, and bunny-shaped ones on the mantel and in the fireplace They give the room a cosy glow and the house smells of cinnamon and dark sugar. The owner of the soft, safe voice is a man in (Hux guesses) late middle age, maybe bordering on early retirement. “I’m Han,” he says, with a concerned smile. “Ben will be down in a minute.”

On cue, the door creaks and another person comes into the room. Han gives the newcomer a concerned frown. “Ben? Talk to him and keep him awake.”  
“Huh? What should I talk about?”  
“Who cares! Your mom’s on her way with Doctor Kalonia. She’ll check him over. Uncle Lando here yet?”  
“Yeah, he’s playing _If It Moves Shoot It_ with Uncle Chewie. I’ll probably need a new PS4 for my birthday.”  
The warm, safe voice laughs. Hux lets his eyes drift close and his head swims. A hand shakes his shoulder a little roughly. “Hey you, my dad said you’re to stay awake. Who are you anyway?”  
“Wha-a-a?”  
“I’m Ben. What. Is. Your. Name.”  
Hux processes the syllables one at a time to build a sentence and manages a reply. “Amitge Hu. Ux. Ar. Mit. Tage. Hux.”  
“Well hello there, Armitage Hux. Why are you here?”  
Hux blinks a few times. He turns his head and winces at the stab of pain that sears across the dull ache that was there before. “Invited. Dinner.”  
“Oh!” The voice seems more cheerful. “Cool! My folks invited someone my own age for a change. Usually it’s just me and my parents’ friends. Armitage. I’m calling you Armie.”  
That’s enough to make Hux force himself upright. “Hux. Just Hux.”

At that point there’s a commotion outside the room. “Mom’s home,” Ben says as the room door opens and the main light snaps on. Hux plays dumb while he listens for any hint of who these people are. There’s no way any of them are related to that dry old stick Pryde, and none of their names are at all familiar.

Dr Kalonia declares his head wound to be superficial and prescribes 24 hours of close observation. Sitting up now, Hux looks over the small assembly all watching him with concern, except for Ben who has an expression of delight. “Sorry you tripped and hit your head,” Ben says.  
“Uh,” Hux replies. He turns to the older man. “You’re not Mr Pryde,” he observes.  
“No,” the man says with a laugh. “I’m Han Solo. Doc, he gonna be okay?”  
“He’ll be fine,” a severe looking woman says. “Just keep an eye on him.” To Hux, “You’re going to have to stay here tonight unless someone can come and get you. Is that all right? Want us to call someone for you?”

Hux basks in Ben’s grin and he’s tempted to lie, to say there’s nobody, so that he can stay here with these kind people and be looked after. “I need my phone,” he says. “I ought to call my father.”  
“Yeah about that,” Han says. “Kinda took a bit of a knock.”  
He hands Hux a phone with a dead, smashed screen.  
“I can call him if you know the number,” Ben says. “Or you can use my phone.”  
“The number’s stored in my phone,” Hux says. “I don’t remember it. So I can’t.”  
“I expect he’ll be worried,” says another calm, female voice, behind the doc.  
“No,” Hux sighs. “He’s probably relieved that I didn’t show up.” A thought hits him. “This is 35 Imperial Rise, isn’t it?”  
“I’m afraid not,” the woman replies. “This is 35 Imperial _Avenue_. My name’s Leia. You met Han and Ben already. This is our home.”  
Han laughs kindly. “Damnit, son, you crashed our party in style!”  
“Ben?” Leia looks at the boy. “Go set another place for our unexpected guest.”  
“Doctor K said he needs to be under observation for 24 hours,” Ben reminds everyone. “He can share with me, right?”  
Hux looks at the assembled faces, all showing some degree of concern, and decides that, all things considered, his evening could be much worse.

The weird smell, Hux’s stomach realises, is the delicious, mixed aromas of cooking food. He pats carefully at the bump on his head and feels matted, crusty hair. Ben notices. “You can use the shower if you want. I’ll lend you some clothes for after. That’ll be ok, Dr K?”

Doctor Kalonia examines Hux’s head again, teasing strands of sticky hair apart with gentle fingers. To Ben, she says, “Yes, but he’ll have to be supervised, remember.” And to Hux, “If you feel at all light-headed, lie on the floor before you faint. The wound isn’t bad but it might bleed a little more if you’re not careful. Lukewarm water, no rubbing. Show me after.”

Hux lets Ben help him up and lead him from the living room. They pass a dining room with a large table, set for dinner with haphazard mix of plates and glasses. There are gaudy decorations at each place and there are more jumbled coils of string lights in place of candles. He wonders how his father and his father’s colleagues are enjoying their dinner party, but only briefly. He knows he’s missing out on fancy porcelain, silver cutlery, matching crystal goblets and the opportunity to be seen and not heard.

Ben fetches him a towel, some sweatpants and a hoodie, then shows him into the family bathroom. There’s a huge enamel tub (a little water-stained under the taps) with a shower rose above and a shower curtain patterned with space rockets that runs right around the tub on a rail.  
He loves it.

“Ben?” he says. “I don’t normally undress and shower in front of strangers.”  
“That’s ok” Ben smiles. “Set the temperature then I’ll go out while you undress. I’ll come back when you’re behind the curtain.”  
“I don’t really need...” Hux is going to say “supervised” but as he leans over to turn on the shower he feels a dull throb build in his head and his vision greys. Ben’s there immediately, a hand under his arm, holding him up and steering him back to sit on the toilet seat.  
“Easy, easy. I’m not going anywhere.” Ben chews his lip for a few seconds, then says, “Okay. I’m coming in with you. Don’t worry, I share the communal showers all the time after using the gym at school. Saves time.”  
“School?” Hux squints up at the broad shoulders and wispy facial hair that can’t quite be called a goatee yet.  
“Yeah. I’m in my first year,” Ben replies.  
“How old are you?” Hux asks. “And how old do you think I am?”  
“Ha! I’m 19. You look about 19 too I guess.”  
“I’m 23.”  
“You finished school, then?” Ben asks, casually stripping and dropping his clothes where he stands.

Hux avoids the question. He stands slowly and follows Ben’s example. His clothes are filthy from his fall and he’s cold. The bathroom clouds with water vapour from the shower even after Ben turns the temperature down.  
“Give me your hand,” Ben says. “Don’t want you to fall over again.”  
Hux looks Ben up and down. He hopes Ben doesn’t notice, and takes the offered hand. He’s glad of the support because the step over into the tub is high and his balance is impaired.  
“Hey, if you get dizzy, hold on to me,” Ben says.

Regretfully, Hux has no more dizzy spells. He lets Ben wash his hair for him, kneeling in the tub while Ben cleans around the wound and rinses, carefully avoiding getting shampoo on the damaged skin. The fact that this brings his face level with Ben’s naked... Ben’s nude... Ben’s generously proportioned cock is not a problem as long as he can remain kneeling with his hands covering his embarrassment.

“I like your hair,” Ben says, stroking his fingers across the intact parts of Hux’s scalp.  
“Um,” Hux replies. “I like yours too,” he says.  
“Liar,” Ben laughs. “You’re not used to people saying nice things about you, are you?”  
“Not really,” Hux says. He tries to look up at Ben’s hair but Ben’s face holds his attention. Ben has a nice face. And he’s smiling, all wide lips and crooked teeth. Hux can’t help smiling back.  
“Can you stand up?” Ben asks.  
Hux grips the sides of the tub and stands slowly. Ben helps with an arm around him, and he doesn’t protest. “Sorry about that,” Hux says when Ben’s eyes drift south to his semi. “Happens when I take a shower. Sometimes.”  
“Oh.” Ben pouts a little. “Kinda hoped it was for me.”

Hux wonders if he’s about to have a heart attack. His mouth goes dry and his head buzzes. “You... You... Uh?”  
“I’m sorry,” Ben is saying. “That was a stupid thing to say. Forget it. Give me your hand and I’ll help you out of the bath.”  
“No,” Hux says, frowning slightly.  
“Well, at least put your hand on my shoulder to steady you.”  
“Huh? No,” Hux reaches for Ben’s shoulder. “That’s not what I meant.”  
“You can’t blame me for coming on to you a bit,” Ben says, looking away. “You’re the most beautiful man I ever saw.”  
“Huh?”  
“But if you’re straight or if you’re not interested then I’ll forget it.”  
“Uh?” Hux steadies himself on Ben and steps out of the tub. “I’m... Oh hell. Okay, I responded physically to having your hands in my hair and your dick in my face.”  
Ben’s grin spreads slowly over his face. “So that was for me.”  
“Was,” Hux says. “Gone now.”

They both look down and laugh. “Well.” Ben offers Hux a clean towel. “Time for dinner anyway.”  
Hux dries himself, carefully patting at his hair until Ben takes the towel from him and finishes the job.  
“You have nice hair too,” Hux says as Ben finger-combs his waves then shakes them out, still damp.  
“Thank you,” Ben says. “We can—”  
“BEN?” A holler from downstairs. “YOUR MOTHER SAYS HURRY UP.”  
Ben rolls his eyes. “The lamb has been in the oven for six hours. Five more minutes won’t ruin it.”

“Lamb!” Hux is almost salivating already. He sits on the toilet seat and pulls on the clothes Ben got for him. Everything is a couple of sizes too big, but he pulls the drawstring of the sweatpants tighter and wonders if he let the neckline of the tee shirt droop off one shoulder would Ben like that. Later, he thinks. For now, he puts the hoodie on over the top and they both go back downstairs and into the dining room. Dr Kalonia asks how Hux is feeling and he says, truthfully, a little unfocused but getting better. Kalonia repeats that Hux should stay the night. Ben smiles like an angel.

The dining room is bigger than Hux first thought and it fills with a range of characters unlike any of his father’s friends. There’s Han and Leia, Ben’s parents, who sit opposite each other and bicker amiably all through dinner.  
There’s Dr Kalonia and a woman with pink wavy hair who occasionally takes Leia’s hand and squeezes it.  
Ben’s Uncle Lando is shorter than Uncle Chewie but makes up for the height difference with sheer force of personality.  
Then a tiny, old person arrives and Chewie hugs her tightly until Hux thinks her bones will break.

Hux loses track of names. He’s worried at first because forgetting people’s names is rude (according to father) but nobody seems to mind. Ben reminds him who’s who with murmurs and nudges, and tells him outrageous stories about each person. Hux quietly insists that Ben is a liar, but Ben just laughs. Uncle Luke arrives just as Poe, Leia’s (nephew? Hux can’t remember) brings in the lamb and offers to carve. Plates are passed around clockwise from person to person until everyone has a generous portion, then everyone digs into the sides already on the table.

It’s a meal unlike anything Hux has ever experienced. Everyone talks. Leia seems to be holding three conversations at once. He feels overwhelmed, but Maz—the oldest person Hux has ever seen—leans across the table and tells him he will be just fine with Ben. Ben tells Hux to eat as much as he can because otherwise there will be leftovers forever.

Hux thinks of the polite, guarded chat at Pryde’s party, and the beautifully decorative but tasteless canapés, and the feeling of wanting to explode and...  
...and he laughs.

He sees pink-haired Amilyn kiss Leia’s knuckles and then he grabs Ben’s hand on the table and holds it tight. Han is patting Uncle Lando’s shoulder, and leans in to kiss his cheek. Chewie and Maz are deep in discussion in a language too fast for him to follow and Uncle Luke is busy talking about engine parts with a man called Wedge. Hux holds on tighter and tighter to Ben, until Ben puts an arm around Hux’s shoulders and a hand on his cheek to turn his head, and asks if he needs some peace and quiet.

“For a minute,” Hux says. “I need to clear my head.”  
Ben nods and pushes his chair back. Hux does the same. Ben says something to his mother and she nods too, then Ben leads Hux out of the hectic dining room, through the kitchen and out the back door. There is a fingernail moon high above them and stars still dot the sky despite the city lights. Hux shivers and Ben pulls him closer.  
“You want a coat?”  
“No,” Hux says. The cool night air seems to promise an invigorating morning frost.  
“I’m sorry about your head, but I’m happy you’re here,” Ben says.  
“Me too,” Hux replies. “Your family is—”  
“Yeah they’re a bit much.”  
“Wonderful!” Hux sighs. “I’m missing the annual dinner with my father and his business associates for this. I am so... So...”

Ben’s arms are around him and his face is on Ben’s shoulder and he’s trembling and he can’t explain why, but he likes it. He feels safe here.  
“Concussed?” Ben supplies, and Hux giggles.  
“Yes that must be it,” Hux says when the shaking subsides. He’s still in Ben’s embrace and he has no plan to move any time soon.

Someone bangs on the window. “It’s dad. You want more food? Please say yes or it’s pudding for breakfast.” Hux releases Ben and tries to take a step back. Ben grabs him tighter. “Whoa there. Once is enough.” Hux looks behind him. There‘s a step. He groans and holds onto Ben again.  
“Clearly I can’t be trusted with landscaping. Please take me indoors to safety.”  
Ben scoops Hux up and carries him inside, deposits him more or less upright in the kitchen, and kisses his lips. Once, tentatively. Like he has never done that before.  
Hux smiles. “I would like—“  
“BEN! ARMITAGE!”  
Ben groans at the yell from the doorway. “Time for the flaming pudding. Literally.”

Ben wasn’t kidding. The dining room is in silent(ish) giggly darkness when they take their seats again. Hux recognises the smell of brandy in the air, then Leia clicks a lighter. A trail of blue fire snakes across the table and a fireball engulfs a fruit pudding. The room smells of sweet spices and burnt sugar. Hux accepts a small serving of pudding with cream and it sits heavily in his stomach.

“I think,” he says quietly to Ben, “I need to go to bed.”  
“Okay.” Ben gets up and leads Hux from the room.  
“Won’t they mind that I left early? It’s rude, I think.”  
Ben laughs. “Hux, you knocked yourself out because of my dad’s stupid singing. Nobody will care except that you’re okay.”  
“I don’t need looking after so you can go back to the party if you want.”  
“I want to look after you.”

Hux feels Ben’s arm, so solid, around his waist. He leans into the support. Ben takes him upstairs to a bedroom and sits him on the edge of the bed. “Hux, I like you. But you don’t have to sleep with me. I can sleep on the floor.”  
Hux looks at the bed. It’s a decent sized double. He looks at the floor with its slightly worn carpet. He looks at Ben with his tired, worried smile. “It would be far easier for you to keep me under observation if we both slept in your bed.”  
Ben grins. “Yeah. That. Lemme find you a toothbrush.”  
Ben’s gone for a couple of minutes and Hux is sorely tempted to curl up and fall asleep.

Ben returns with a little wash-bag. “Mom has a ton of these from when she has to fly transatlantic. She said help yourself.”  
Hux opens the little cloth bag to find a small toothbrush, the tiniest tube of toothpaste he has ever seen, some small samples of face cream and hand cream, a lavender wipe, a plastic comb and a pen. Ben comes into the tiny ensuite with him and lurks in the doorway while he brushes his teeth, then sees him settled in bed before he performs his own night time routine. He gets into bed beside Hux, kisses him on the cheek and wishes him goodnight. The sounds of the party drift up from downstairs, muffled by walls and floors.  
“Oh no,” Ben says when a strange warbling starts up. “Aunt Maz got the karaoke machine.”

Hux can’t help the laughter that bubbles up inside and spills over. Soon Ben is giggling too and another voice takes over. Ben identifies Uncle Luke and begs Hux not to judge his family on their ability to hold a tune. Hux promises, and kisses Ben on the lips to show he means it.

Or so he tells himself. Ben returns the kiss. Hux responds, the slightest hint of his tongue across Ben’s upper lip... and Ben pulls back. Hux sighs.  
“I want you,” Ben says. “But I have to consider the situation here. I mean, you really could have a concussion and not be thinking straight.”  
“Ben, I promise you,” Hux says. “What I am thinking is far from straight.”  
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Ben says. “But I won’t in case I’m taking advantage of a supremely hot person whose mental faculties are impaired.”  
There’s no reply. “Hux?” Ben shakes Hux’s shoulder. Hux grunts. Ben laughs softly. “Maybe in the morning, if you feel the same.” He kisses Hux on the forehead, then on the lips. “Goodnight, gorgeous.”  
From downstairs, the sound of karaoke and laughter crests and falls.

Hux wakes up with a stiff shoulder, a sore neck and a headache. He tries to turn and grunts at the pain.  
“You okay?” He sees Ben’s concerned face in the grey light.  
“Still alive, thanks.”  
“Okay. What’s your name, what’s today’s date and who’s the president.”  
Hux laughs although it hurts more. “You shower with me, let me sleep in your bed and THEN you ask my name? Smooth. Very smooth.”  
Ben shoves Hux’s hip. “Shut uuup. Just do it.”  
“All right. Armitage Hux, Easter Sunday, some fuckface.”  
“Yeah,” Ben says. “You’re fine.”  
“Shit,” Hux says, hands rubbing his eyes. “I should go home. My father will kill me.”  
“That doesn’t sound like a good reason for going home,” Ben says. “Dr K said 24 hours observation. As your nurse, I am not letting you go until... you got here at six so another 12 hours.”

Hux sighs. He knows he should insist on leaving, not impose on this wonderful, big, noisy family any longer. But the thought of Sunday morning with Brendol turns him cold. Especially if they start with an argument Hux will lose. “Okay,” he says. “Can you email him for me?”  
“Sure.” Ben grabs his phone from the cabinet. Hux spells out Brendol’s email address and dictates.

“Dear Father, Please accept my apology for missing last night’s dinner with Mr Pryde. The cab dropped me at the wrong address and I tripped and banged my head, knocking myself out and breaking my phone. The family is taking care of me since they think I may have a concussion. One of them is a doctor and I have had a very attentive nurse at my side all night. I will be home after 6pm tonight. Yours sincerely, Armitage.”

Ben stares at him. “Is he your dad or your boss?”  
“Both.”  
“Huh. Sucks. I worked for Han for, like, a week before he fired me.”  
“Just send it. Please.”  
“Okay.”  
Ben sends the email, raises the phone and snaps a selfie of his head and Hux’s close together on the pillows. Then he puts the phone away and settles down with Hux curled against his side.

When Hux wakes again he’s alone so he stretches carefully. His shoulder and neck and head still hurt but his balance is back and he’s hungry. Ben emerges from the ensuite, nude, and smiles.  
“Good morning, angel,” Ben says.  
“Ugh, shush.” Hux gets up slowly and pads over to the ensuite. Ben gives him privacy this time, although Hux can hear him rummaging in drawers and cabinets. When Hux finishes his morning routine, he finds Ben silent, scowling at his phone.  
“Is something wrong?” Hux asks.  
“Your dad.” Ben’s scowl softens to a perplexed frown. “Well. He replied.” Ben holds the phone so Hux can read the screen.  
“Oh.” He reads the diatribe again. “Sorry you had to see that.”  
“Look, I know we just met and it’s none of my business, but your dad’s a complete dick.”  
“I know, Ben, I live with him.” There’s a moment of uncomfortable silence between them. Hux sighs and breaks it. “I hate to impose,” he says, “but I could use coffee and painkillers.”

They go downstairs. Hux is surprised to see a coffee maker that looks as if it last saw life in a diner. Ben fills two mugs from the upper jug and hands one to Hux. He finds some painkillers in a drawer and hands those over too.  
“Hi Ben,” a voice says brightly behind them. “Who’s your boyfriend?”  
Hux raises his eyebrows at the sight of a teenager with her hair in buns.  
“Hi Rey,” Ben says. “Thought you kids were all on a sleepover at the Ticos’ house?”  
“I am,” she says. “I came back for leftovers. You going to introduce me or not?”  
“Hux, this is Rey. Rey, this is Hux.”  
“Well?” Rey waits then gives up. “Hi Hux, I’m Rey, I’m Ben’s cousin. You can do better, he’s an asshole who thinks he knows everything. Poe’s single. Think about it.”  
“I’m not Ben’s boyfriend,” Hux says. “I came here by mistake and stayed because I got concussion.”  
Rey nods. “Figures. I always said the only way Ben’ll get laid is if the poor sap’s deluded.”  
“And that is why I never introduce you to anyone, kid,” Ben says, steering Rey to the door. “Go away.”

When she has left with the remainder of the pudding from last night, Hux says, “well she seems nice.”  
Ben laughs. “She’s lived here since she was four. We’re basically brother and sister. She’s sore that I wouldn’t let her borrow my motorbike.”  
Something pings in Hux’s head. “You have a bike?”  
“Yeah. My dad fixes up vintage bikes and sells them.”  
While Hux drinks his coffee and waits for the painkillers to work, he’s distracted by the mental image of Ben dressed in leathers and sitting on a bike, removing his helmet and shaking out that thick, wavy hair.  
“You feeling okay?” Ben asks. “Looks like you zoned out.”

Ben’s parents and their guests drift in and out. Hux watches from a seat at the kitchen table. Whoever empties the top coffee jug shuttles the lower one up to the hotplate, changes the filter and brews more. Whoever makes a mess cleans up after themselves. Whoever uses the last  
of anything writes it down on a pad stuck to the fridge door. Whoever notices the kitchen trash bin is full takes it out. Hux is impressed by how efficient it is, how smoothly everyone moves around each other.

“Do all these people actually live here?” he asks.  
“Not all at once, usually,” Ben replies. “But everyone here has lived here at some point. My folks collect people. It gets a bit much sometimes.”  
“I can imagine,” Hux says. “My dad’s place is quiet. There’s just us. Sometimes he has his colleagues over for drinks.”  
“Cool,” Ben says. “Maybe when it gets too loud here we can go there.”  
Hux raises his eyebrows. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he says. “You read his email.”  
“Yeah.” Ben throws his arm around Hux and gives him a squeeze. “We can retreat back to my room then.”

Hux stays in the kitchen until Dr Kalonia comes down in her PJs to talk to him and declares him fit to go home if he wants. Ben follows up immediately with an invitation to stay as long as he wants.  
“I’m imposing,” Hux says. “I should go.”  
“Stay,” Ben repeats. “Including my parents and me, there are about two dozen people in this house. One more isn’t going to be a problem.”  
“But—”  
“Wait here, I’ll ask mom.”

Ben goes out of the kitchen,slipping past Han in the doorway. “Oh, hi kid,” Han says with a grin. “How’s the bump on the head? Ben look after you all right?”  
Hux and Han chat for a while, then Ben comes back with Leia. “Stay,” Leia says. “I didn’t realise you were _Brendol_ Hux’s son.”  
“Leia,” Han says. “You can’t make him stay if he wants to go home.”  
“I’m not making him do anything!” Leia protests. “I’m just saying he’s welcome. That’s all.”

Hux taps Ben’s arm. Ben makes an excuse and leads Hux up to his bedroom and closes the door.  
“Too much? They’re too much. Am I too much too?”  
Hux’s face twitches into a smile. “It’s a lot. They’re a lot. You’re...” He frowns, trying to find the right word. “The right amount.”  
Ben grins. “So you’ll stay? You can stay up here if you want. Nobody will think you’re rude or a bad guest if you need space. Oh!” His face falls. “I should give you some space too.”  
“No,” Hux says, gripping Ben’s hand. “You promised me 24 hours of care and it’s not 6pm yet.”  
“Okay,” Ben says, sitting on the bed and patting the space beside him. “What do you want to do for...” he checks the time. “Seven hours?”  
The painkillers are working. Hux laughs softly. “Nothing strenuous,” he says. “Unfortunately.”  
“How’s this?” Ben says, kissing Hux under his ear. Hux shrugs and giggles.  
“Tickles.”

Ben does it again and Hux tilts his head to encourage more. Then Ben puts his hands on Hux’s shoulders and gently pushes him to lie flat and kisses him on the lips. Hux puts his arms around Ben’s neck and kisses back, closing his eyes and parting his lips.  
“Is this too strenuous yet?” Ben asks, lowering his weight onto Hux. “Am I too heavy?”  
“No,” Hux replies. “It’s nice.”

He hasn’t felt this comfortable with someone else before, he realises as Ben strokes his hair (on his uninjured side) and wriggles to get his thigh between Hux’s legs. He’s had boyfriends, before, but nobody quite as open as Ben. Mostly he’s been with people his father wouldn’t disapprove of too much, although he never invited them back to find out. His father, he’s sure, would disapprove vehemently about Ben and, probably, his entire extended network of family.

He pushes his hands into Ben’s hair, feeling the luxurious strands slip through his fingers. Ben smiles against Hux’s lips. Hux does it again. Ben laughs. “I like that,” he says. “Makes my skin tingle.”  
“Oh?” Hux says, opening his eyes to see the deep brown of Ben’s. “Where?”  
Ben sniggers and Hux laughs. “Let me guess,” Hux says, gently running his fingers through Ben’s hair again, lightly brushing his scalp. Ben hums in pleasure and wriggles a little more.  
“Oh!” Hux says. “You really do like that. What else do you like?”  
“Anything,” Ben says, “as long as you’re the one doing it.”  
“You better tell me how far you want to go, then,” Hux says. “I don’t want any misunderstandings spoiling the day.”

Ben pulls back a little and watches Hux’s face for a minute. “It depends,” he says.  
“If I’m never going to see you again, I want everything. But if I am, then I want to...” He stops and laughs. “Who am I kidding. I want to do everything. Then if I see you tomorrow I want to do it all again.”  
“I think,” Hux says, “you just defined ‘too strenuous’ for me.”

Ben’s face falls. He tries to roll off Hux but Hux holds him still. “I didn’t mean that as a rejection at all,” Hux says. “I only meant I need to take it a little slower.” He smiles. “I’d like to see you again. I don’t really do one night stands. Come here.”  
Ben sighs in relief, grins and allows Hux to pull him down for another kiss.

Hux meant it about going slow. He kisses Ben without any sense of urgency and runs his hands over Ben’s broad back, waiting until Ben gets restless before murmuring at him to take off his shirt. When Ben sits up to remove his top, Hux sits up too and strokes the backs of his fingers across Ben’s chest and stomach. Ben takes a sharp breath in and lets it out in a laugh.  
“You’re teasing me.”  
“Yes,” Hux says. “I am.”

Ben grasps the hem of the hoodie that almost engulfs Hux and pulls it off him inside out, then does the same with his borrowed teeshirt. Hux takes one of Ben’s hands, places it on his chest then holds it there and lies down again. Ben strokes Hux’s skin reverently with both hands. Hux emits a happy little sigh.  
“I like this,” Hux says. ”You have nice hands.”  
“You have a nice body,” Ben says. “No, don’t deny it.”  
Hux looks at Ben and Ben smiles. “I can feel you wanting to say you don’t really. But you do. It’s a compliment. Just accept it and say one back.”  
“Okay,” Hux says. “I like your eyes.”  
“I like yours too. And your hair.”  
“I’m sure you said that one already.”  
“So? Still true.”

Hux can’t help smiling. He shuts his eyes and his hands drop to Ben’s thighs while Ben trails fingertips across his stomach, lower and lower with every pass until he’s sliding his fingers under the waistband of Hux’s borrowed sweatpants.

“Too fast?” Ben asks.  
“I think that’s your thing,” Hux says. “Fast, I mean. You’re not going to dump me in six hours’ time, are you?”  
“No,” Ben caresses Hux’s face. “Whoever did that to you is a dick.” He smiles. “And an idiot.”  
“Well then,” Hux says with a smile. “Let’s get naked. Again.”

Ben gets up and helps Hux up too, and they shimmy out of their sweatpants. Ben stands back and just looks for so long that Hux gets nervous.  
“Changed your mind?” he asks.  
“Fuck, no,” Ben replies, reaching for Hux. “Just enjoying the view.”

“Come on then,” Hux says softly. He wonders if Ben is silently asking for permission to touch, if Ben has been this intimate with anyone before. “What would you like to do now?” Hux asks. “I would like you to lie on me again and kiss me.”  
“Okay,” Ben replies, and follows Hux back into bed.

This time their kisses grow more passionate, deeper, more intense than anything Hux has experienced before with his clinical, approved relationships. Ben has a ferocity about him that Hux wants, and he thrusts up to meet every movement of Ben’s hips. Ben is soon gasping in pleasure. Hux is on the point of deciding to slow things down again when Ben grunts and comes.

Ben relaxes, boneless, on top of Hux. Hux caresses Ben’s hair and kisses his cheek. “Hey,” he says. “Use your hands on me.”  
“Oh!” Ben laughs. “Sorry.”

Ben rolls to the side and clasps Hux’s cock with one warm hand. Hux holds on to Ben’s shoulders and pulls him down for another ferocious kiss, then comes with a cry stifled by Ben’s lips on his. They lie together, dozing on and off, for what feels like hours until Ben’s Uncle Chewie roars something up the stairs in a language Hux doesn’t know.

Ben groans and covers his face. “Something wrong?” Hux asks.  
“Not really,” Ben says. “Uncle Chewie just yelled at us to get dressed. Lunch is ready.”  
Hux feels like his heart is in his mouth. “Will your folks be angry?”  
Ben looks at him quizzically. “What for?”  
“Because of what we just did. Because you’re 19 and I’m 23. Because I literally showed up at your house and crashed their party and—”  
“And seduced their son. Yeah, you’re evil, Hux. Evil. No!”

Ben gets up to follow Hux into the ensuite when Hux launches himself out of bed and grabs some clothes. “I was kidding. Hux, it’s fine.” Ben puts his ams around Hux’s waist and kisses him. “I promise. We’ll get knowing looks and maybe some ribbing but nothing more.”  
Hux frowns. “Are you sure?”  
Ben grins. “Uncle Lando will want revenge for the time I walked in on him and dad. He might ask you to rate my performance.”  
Hux gapes. He has never met anyone so open about sex before. Ben laughs. “Smile and hold eye contact. Mom will ask if we were safe. Pretend you have no idea what she’s talking about. Dad will probably ask when we’re planning the wedding. Make shit up. Aunt Amilyn will wait until you think you’re safe then say some utterly outrageous innuendo.” Ben holds Hux more tightly. “It’ll be embarrassing but we will get through this.”  
Hux sighs and starts cleaning himself up. “I hope so,” he says. “If this happened in my father’s house he’d probably throw us both out.”  
“He’d be doing you a favour, Hux,” Ben says. But Hux doesn’t reply and Ben says no more.

Lunch goes exactly as Ben predicted and Hux’s face is beet-red for the entire meal. Eventually the teasing ends. Ben leans in and murmurs, “That’s it over now. You survived my family.”  
Hux catches sight of the clock on the mantel. It’s later than he thought, almost 3pm. In three hours, Hux thinks with regret, he will have to go back to his father’s house.  
Ben’s looking at his phone. “Um, Hux?” Ben elbows him. “Your dad emailed again. Here.”  
He puts the phone down so that Hux can read the message. It is short and to the point.  
“Can I...” Ben says, pointing at Leia.

Hux grimaces, shrugs and nods. Ben gets up and shows his mom the email. He is entirely unprepared for Leia’s fury. He’s pretty sure he’s learning some new words as he witnesses Leia telling the entire house what she thinks of Brendol Hux. Hux is confused until Amilyn leans over and says, “Ben’s mom knows Brendol from way back. Her political days. There’s no love lost. He’s awful. But you seem to have turned out okay.”

“All right,” Leia says when her indignation abates. “Han, get the car. You’re taking Hux home—” Hux feels his cheeks burn and his stomach turns to lead. Ben leaps back to Hux’s side and yells, “NO!”  
Leia frowns at him. “What?” she says. “I was just telling Han to drive young Hux round to his dad’s place so he can pick up some stuff and come back here.” She looks at Hux. “Whether it’s just another night or a week or a month or whatever, you’re welcome here. You can stay as long as you need a place to stay.”

Ben lets out a deep sigh and hugs his mother. “Hey mom,” he says. “He can share with me.”


End file.
